It’s nice to take the kids out and have a fun time, but it's also great to feel that the experiences that you are giving them are worthwhile in term of their education and development. After all, you want to give your little ones the best start in life that you possibly can. Luckily, these two things are not mutually exclusive, and you can even find some specific examples disused in the post below.
Country parks
Country parks have a lot going for them, especially as the whether improves. They are usually free to enter, with just a small fee for parking, and they often have mapped out ... read more

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There is a huge amount of pressure on mums these days to ‘not opt out of work’ when the time comes to having children. With so much hype circulating about the benefits of staying in the work circuit whilst building a family, there is no wonder women suffer huge amounts of stress deliberating the logistics of balancing family and career.
We are here today however to discuss just how plausible and entirely possible it is to get back to your career after taking some years out to raise children. If you are concerned about wanting to focus on raising your children and how that ... read more

Many people see their work life and their life outside of work to be two completely entities. Many people see the clock striking 5 o’clock (whenever they finish work) as their chance to leave their work life behind for a bit and concentrate on their other life: their ‘real’ life.
But why must there be such a difference between work life, and life outside of work? Why can’t we do things at work to enhance our life outside of it, other than just make the money to fund it? And why can’t we do things outside of work that will benefit us during it without it making us feel down or tired? We can ... read more

It’s a competitive world out there, and even if you’ve only taken a year off work to raise your kids, you’re still at a disadvantage from your colleagues and competition. Even if you believe you’re still qualified for a certain position, someone else might have gained experience or a qualification in the past year to give them a slight edge. No matter how old you are, or where you are in your career, it never hurts to earn a few extra skills outside of work. If you’re hoping to go back to work in the near future, perhaps your should consider going back to school first. ... read more

There's no denying it - St Albans is one of those places that people move to to have a family. It means that the local parents Facebook groups and online forums are absolutely full of questions about local schools. Things about how big the intake is, where the catchment area stretches to and where they can find the latest Ofsted report. Information about all these things is out there somewhere on the internet, but the relaunched School Reviewer website brings it all together beautifully.
As a parent, your child's education is one of the most important things you can plan for and parents are ... read more

Before becoming a parent I have to admit that I'd not really thought about education for my kids much. That kind of happened at school and I didn't need to think about it much. Now that I am a parent though I realise that education is much more of a life long thing and what you do at home works so much along side what your children do and learn at school. The two really need to work in harmony and that's where a site like Education Quizzes works so well.
Designed for all children, the primary aim of Education Quizzes is to help children be successful at school. The quizzes are all written ... read more

It may be freezing cold whilst I sit here writing this, but looking out at our back garden there is no doubt that there are lots of signs of spring out there. A very early spring when you consider how many daffodils are already brighting up the flower beds. I have so many good intentions about how we're going to use our back garden going forwards. Every year I say that and so far I've been foiled every year by the kids not quite being old enough to join in enough for me to make actual progress. 2016 WILL be different though. I'm sure of it. Master C is now very nearly three and a half, and ... read more

Wow! What. A. Summer.
I'm sat here surrounded by bits of Little Miss C's school uniform that I've been busy sewing name tapes on to all evening. She's back to school in the morning and incredibly excited about it. It seems hard to believe that I was worried about 6 weeks of summer holidays stretching ahead of me as I just had no idea how to fill all that time. As it happens though I've had no real problems at all (although I won't deny that there have been some afternoons that have felt like forever!) and we've had a really busy summer with lots of days out, a planned holiday to Wales and ... read more

I recently attended a course that our local school held all about parenting, and in particular parenting boys. It wasn't the first parenting course that I'd been on, but as I'd found before I learn something new with each course and this time what I learnt was all around the role of play, and in particular play involving screen time.
Some parents hear the words "screen time" and just assume that it's all bad and something that needs to be limited for children, but I'm actually a little bit more relaxed than that. I agree that leaving your children alone to play mindless computer games or ... read more

It's not so long ago that I wrote about Little Miss C's varied aspirations for when she gets older. I love that fact that she thinks somewhat outside the box when it comes to this sort of thing. Just before the end of term her school had a day where children were encouraged to come to school dressed up as (or just with a suitable prop) what they want to be when they grow up. That morning the playground was full of nurses, doctors, racing drivers, builders and police officers. Stood in the middle of them was one little girl with a pair of binoculars and a RSPB bird identification book under her ... read more